Related commitments made during CGI (and donation opportunities) below the fold. NorwayPrime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway pledged $1 billion to launch a global aid and advocacy campaign to reduce maternal and child deaths in poor countries, joined by President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, President Armando Guebuza of Mozambique, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, Prime Minster Jan Peter Blakenede of the Netherlands, President Robert Zoellick of the World Bank Group, General Director Margaret Chan of the WHO, and Executive Director Ann Veneman of UNICEF.

"With less than $1 billion, we have saved more than 2.3 million lives since 2001 by providing vaccination," said Stoltenberg. "Now we need to go beyond vaccines. The four million newborns who die in their first month may survive the first days and weeks of their lives if they are breastfed, and have access to antibiotics and health personnel. The half a million women who die in pregnancy or giving brith can be saved with simple means. Extra financing will make a big difference."

CARECARE, a humanitarian organization fighting global poverty, will raise $150 million from private and public sectors to provide 30 million women and their children better maternal health and nutrition services. Their focus is to reduce maternal mortality and child malnutrition rates in 10 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America by 2015.

"Women are dying simply because they are poor," said Helene Gayle, CARE's president. "This is a violation of human rights and dignity. Women deserve a safe pregnancy and delivery, regardless of where they live or how much money they have."

CARE already has programs to improve maternal and child health in more than 40 countries. In Peru, to name a specific example, the non-profit said it reduced mortality rates by 49 percent in less than four years just by improving emergency obstetric care.

Center for the Adolescents of San Miguel de Allende (CASA)CASA will be investing $1.5 million in a five-year plan to extend the reach of its midwifery-school pilot project by creating new midwifery schools in Mexico, Guatemala, and other countries in Central America, as well as by funding national and international scholarship funds for midwives.

Proctor & GambleP&G;, through its Pampers brand and products, has said it will contribute $3 million over two years to support the procurement of close to 45 million tetanus vaccines, in order to help eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus. It will be working closely with developing-country governments and UNICEF.

Last year, P&G;'s Pampers brand launched a cause-related marketing promotion in the U.K. to support UNICEF's tetanus-elimination efforts, helping obtain more than 7.5 million vaccines.

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF Along with WHO and the World Bank, The U.S. Fund for UNICEF aims to save an estimated 3.2 million children's lives in this region by 2009, and to permanently improve facilities to meet the needs of countless others.

In partnership with national governments and leading agencies, UNICEF's Maternal and Neonatal Child Survival Program aims to save an estimated 3.2 million children's lives in sub-Saharan Africa's 25 least-developed countries by 2009, as well as to permanently improve facilities to meet the needs of other nations. It has pledged $125 million for 2008.

The Maternal and Infant Health Initiative (MIHI)MIHI, led by the Center for Global Health, has committed $2 million over five years to strengthen Zambia's maternal and infant health-care system and, consequently, improve the country's maternal mortality ration of 729 per 100,000. (Maternal disability is 30 times higher.)

Specific goals are:

A 66 percent reduction in infant mortality in the Central Province which could potentially save over 3,000 babies each year

A 75 percent reduction in maternal mortality which could save over 270 mothers each year

African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF)In partnership with the Ministry of Health (MOH), District Health Management Teams and civil society, AMREF commits $1.8 million over four years to improvematernal and infant health in Busia district, Western Kenya. The project will:

Increase the proportion of women who attend antenatal clinics at least 4 times and postnatal clinics at least once

Increase the proportion of women delivering under the supervision of a skilled health professional

Increase the proportion of women delivering at a health facility

Increase the quality of and access to basic emergency obstetric care at health facilities

Save the ChildrenSave the Children seeks $250,000 per year to introduce, initiate, review, support and strengthen existing key maternal and newborn health services and policies. The program seeks funding of $200,000 per year to implement the Household to Hospital Continuum of Care approach to improve survival outcomes for mothers and newborns. This funding will complement a newly awarded grant to improve newborn care outcomes in rural northern Malawi.